A TRAUMATISED dad who found his two-year-old son’s body floating face down in a pond during a family caravaning holiday has been stripped of a £25,000 damages payout by top judges.

Matthew Marsden died after he and his 16-month-old brother, Alex, wandered away from the family’s touring caravan at the 125-acre Greenacres Holiday Park in Porthmadog, Gwynedd in August 2004.

Mr Marsden, an IT manager from Cwrt Brenig, Buckley was last year awarded £25,000 damages against the park’s owners - Bourne Leisure Ltd, trading as British Holidays - after a judge ruled the family should have been specifically warned about the pond.

However, Appeal Court judges ruled that Bourne Leisure could in now way be blamed for the tragedy and ordered Mr Marsden to repay the £25,000, plus £15,000 in legal costs.